Think Better (your Company's Future Depends on It-- and So Does Yours): An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking

Think Better (your Company's Future Depends on It-- and So Does Yours): An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking

PDF Think Better (your Company's Future Depends on It-- and So Does Yours): An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking Download

  • Author: Tim Hurson
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN: 9780070000001
  • Category : Replace
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 0


Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking

Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking

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  • Author: Tim Hurson
  • Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
  • ISBN: 9780071754750
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 300

There are thousands of books about thinking. But there are very few books that provide clear how-to information that can actually help you think better. Think Better is about Productive Thinking — why it’s important, how it works, and how to use it at work, at home, and at play. Productive Thinking is a game changer — a practical, easy-to-learn, repeatable process that helps people understand more clearly, think more creatively, and plan more effectively. It's based on the thinking strategies that people we celebrate for their creativity have been using for centuries. Tim Hurson brings Productive Thinking out of the closet and presents it in a way that makes it easy for anyone to grasp and use — so you can think better, work better, and do better in every aspect of your life. Think Better demonstrates how you can start with an intractable technical problem, an unmet consumer need, or a gaping chasm in your business strategy and, by following a clearly defined, practical thinking process, arrive at a robust, innovative solution. Many companies use the Productive Thinking model to generate fresh solutions for tough business problems, and many individuals rely on it to solve pressing personal problems. The principles you'll find in Think Better are straight-forward: separate your thinking into creative thinking and critical thinking; stay with the question; strive for the “third third” by generating lots and lots of ideas; and look for unexpected connections. The model consists of six interlocking steps: Step 1:What's Going On? Explore and truly understand the challenge. Step 2: What's Success? Envision the ideal outcome and establish success criteria. Step 3: What's the Question? Pinpoint the real problem or opportunity. Step 4: Generate Answers List many possible solutions. Step 5: Forge the Solution Decide which solution is best. Then make it better. Step 6: Align Resources Create an action plan. Tim Hurson starts by explaining how we all build inner barriers to effective thinking. He identifies our habits of thinking that severely limit our behavior, from “monkey mind” to “gator brain.” Then he demonstrates how to overcome these barriers. More than anything, productive thinking is an attitude that will let you look at problems and convert them into opportunities. At the end of this disciplined brainstorming process, you'll have a concrete action plan, complete with timelines and deadlines. The book is filled with many of Hurson's original brainstorming tools that will empower you to generate, organize, and process ideas. For example, you can identify your best ideas using the five C's: Cull, Cluster, Combine, Clarify and Choose. And you can transform an embryonic idea into a robust solution with POWER, which stands for Positives, Objections, What else?, Enhancements and Remedies. To create the future, you first must be able to imagine it. Productive thinking is a way to help you do that.


The I5 Approach

The I5 Approach

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  • Author: Jane E. Pollock
  • Publisher: ASCD
  • ISBN: 1416624589
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 179

This book presents the five I's: information, images, interaction, inquiry, and innovation, and how they relate to developing students' critical and creative thinking skills. It provides step-by-step procedures for teaching 12 key thinking skills and shares lesson examples from teachers.


Discovering Leadership

Discovering Leadership

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  • Author: Anthony Middlebrooks
  • Publisher: SAGE Publications
  • ISBN: 1506336833
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 657

Prepare your students to lead the future. Discovering Leadership: Designing Your Success provides a practical, engaging foundation and easy-to-understand framework for individuals to purposefully design leadership. This action-oriented text starts with the self and helps students understand their individual strengths, styles, and skills through numerous reflection opportunities. Next, the text explores the relational aspects of leadership and best practices for motivating and inspiring followers. Finally, the text concludes by examining how leaders can transform their communities and create lasting, positive change. Practical applications and activities in each chapter help students develop their confidence, optimism, resiliency, and engagement. Regardless of your students’ background or major, they will gain the knowledge and skills they need to become thoughtful, impactful leaders. Give your students the SAGE edge! SAGE edge offers a robust online environment featuring an impressive array of free tools and resources for review, study, and further exploration, keeping both instructors and students. "One of the best leadership texts I have ever read. If students immerse themselves in the activities and discussions contained within, they will put this book down with understanding of how to motivate others to know, be, and do more." –Joshua H. Truitt, University of Central Florida


The Innovation Tools Handbook, Volume 2

The Innovation Tools Handbook, Volume 2

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  • Author: H. James Harrington
  • Publisher: CRC Press
  • ISBN: 149876052X
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 453

In today’s fast-moving, high-technology environment, the focus on quality has given way to a focus on innovation. From presidents of the United States to presidents of Fortune 500 companies, it is clear that everyone thinks innovation is extremely important. The challenge is that few people stop to define why innovation is important—to understand what’s driving the need for more innovation. We all agree that more frequent innovation is important, even necessary. There is actually a growing body of evidence that indicates that looking outside of your company (rather than purely looking internally) and to customers’ needs, using the tools in this Handbook, will lead to more innovative ideas. Responding to customers’ needs is the key to a successful business. You can use these tools to talk to customers—satisfied ones, unsatisfied ones, potential customers, people who would never buy your product or service, and also people you have never considered as a potential customer. In addition, these tools will help you ask your competitors’ customers about what makes them happy with the current businesses and offerings in the industry, why they buy or do not buy from you, your competitors, and other industries. These tools will help you understand the steps in the customer journey they need to take, what delights and frustrates them, and what their pain points are. The three volumes of The Innovation Tools Handbook cover 76 top-rated tools and methods, from the hundreds available, that every innovator must master to be successful. Covering evolutionary and/or improvement innovative tools and methodologies, Volume 2 presents 23 tools/methodologies related to innovative evolutionary products, processes, and services, or the improvement of existing ones. For each tool, the book provides a definition, identifies the user of the tool, explains what phases of the innovation process the tool is used, describes how the tool is used, supplies examples of the outputs from the tool, identifies software that can maximize its effectiveness, and includes references and suggestions for further reading. Ideation is about developing ideas on how to seize identified opportunities. What are the possible answers to your breakthrough questions? Having a deep understanding about the customer, their needs and pain points, as well as the existing solutions (i.e. business models in the industry) will naturally lead to new ideas. How seriously you do your discovery homework using the tools in these Handbooks will determine not only how fast you create ideas, but about how likely these ideas are to succeed. Tools and methodologies covered include: 5 why questions, Affinity diagrams, attribute listing, brainwriting 6–3–5, cause-and-effect diagrams, creative problem solving model, design for tools, flowcharting, force field analysis, Kano analysis, nominal group technique, plan–do–check–act, reengineering/redesign, reverse engineering, robust design, SCAMPER, simulations, six thinking hats, social networks, solution analysis diagrams, statistical analysis, tree diagram, and value analysis. The authors believe that by making effective use of the tools and methodologies presented in this book, your organization can increase the percentage of creative/innovative ideas by five to eight times its present performance level.


Consulting Magazine

Consulting Magazine

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  • Author:
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category : Business consultants
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 400


Strategic Finance

Strategic Finance

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  • Author:
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category : Cost accounting
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 620


Innovation is a State of Mind

Innovation is a State of Mind

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  • Author: James O'Loghlin
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 0730324419
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 208

A modern framework for practical innovation—from individual ideas to an innovative organisational culture Everyone says that innovation is important. The problem is that no one tells you how to be innovative. Innovation is a State of Mind sets out a step-by-step guide to creating innovative ideas and putting them into action. You'll learn how to generate more ideas with greater potential, how to grow and evaluate them, test their effectiveness and then implement the ones that are going to improve your business. Author James O'Loghlin has worked with over a thousand of Australia's best inventors and innovators in the eight years he hosted ABC-TV's The New Inventors. He studied what they do differently and how they are able to identify and take advantage of opportunities that the rest of us miss. Packed with engaging stories and a good dose of humour, this insightful guide helps you to make innovation a part of what you do every day. Change your thinking and identify overlooked opportunities Step around common roadblocks to innovation Generate better ideas, and find the ones that will improve your business Create a culture where innovation is part of everyone's job Harvest innovative ideas from the entire staff and find the ones that will make a difference Innovators see things differently. They solve problems that the rest of us can't, and create solutions to problems that we never noticed we had. Getting stuck in routine and procedure is the death knell for modern business. Most companies undervalue and underuse the creative potential of their people, because they underestimate the impact of continuous innovation. Innovation is a State of Mind shows you how to think like an innovator and create a culture of innovation, so you can stay out in front of the future of business.


Think Smarter

Think Smarter

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  • Author: Michael Kallet
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 1118729838
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 249

Train your brain for better decisions, problem solving, and innovation Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills is the comprehensive guide to training your brain to do more for you. Written by a critical thinking trainer and coach, the book presents a pragmatic set of tools to apply critical thinking techniques to everyday business issues. Think Smarter is filled with real world examples that demonstrate how the tools work in action, in addition to dozens of practice exercises applicable across industries and functions, Think Smarter is a versatile resource for individuals, managers, students, and corporate training programs. Thinking is the foundation of everything you do, but we rely largely on automatic thinking to process information, often resulting in misunderstandings and errors. Shifting over to critical thinking means thinking purposefully using a framework and toolset, enabling thought processes that lead to better decisions, faster problem solving, and creative innovation. Think Smarter provides clear, actionable steps toward improving your critical thinking skills, plus exercises that clarify complex concepts by putting theory into practice. Features include: A comprehensive critical thinking framework Over twenty-five "tools" to help you think more critically Critical thinking implementation for functions and activities Examples of the real-world use of each tool Learn what questions to ask, how to uncover the real problem to solve, and mistakes to avoid. Recognize assumptions your can rely on versus those without merit, and train your brain to tick through your mental toolbox to arrive at more innovative solutions. Critical thinking is the top skill on the wish list in the business world, and sharpening your ability can have profound affects throughout all facets of life. Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills provides a roadmap to more effective and productive thought.


Talent Wants to Be Free

Talent Wants to Be Free

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  • Author: Orly Lobel
  • Publisher: Yale University Press
  • ISBN: 0300166273
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 290

Presents a set of positive changes in corporate strategies, industry norms, regional policies, and national laws that will incentivize talent flow, creativity, and growth.